While the bags work well enough, I am looking for suggestions as to how to store coffee beans when they are roasted but not yet time to grind.
Storing beans
- Thread starter Curly
- Start date
The two enemies of roasted coffee are LIGHT and AIR. Keeping your coffee beans in an opaque airtight container will keep them as fresh as you need. A ziplock bag will work fine if you keep it in a dark cupboard. I use a metal tin with a tight fitting lid, and it works great.
A lot of folks recommend keeping coffee in the freezer. DO NOT DO THIS. There is no appreciable benefit to keeping coffee beans at low temperature, and the condensation that develops from repeated warming and chilling can leach flavor from the beans.
Also, don't buy more coffee than you can drink before it goes stale. We buy it in five-pound bags from Costco, but we use it quickly enough that it doesn't lose any flavor before it gets ground.
A lot of folks recommend keeping coffee in the freezer. DO NOT DO THIS. There is no appreciable benefit to keeping coffee beans at low temperature, and the condensation that develops from repeated warming and chilling can leach flavor from the beans.
Also, don't buy more coffee than you can drink before it goes stale. We buy it in five-pound bags from Costco, but we use it quickly enough that it doesn't lose any flavor before it gets ground.
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I store my home-roasts in mason jars in a dark cupboard. This way, I figure if you keep it in multiple smaller jars, when you open the one to use some beans, only air gets at that amount, not the rest that are in their own sealed jars. Obviously, for my home roast, I leave the lid loose for the first 10-12 hours to let them outgas, but after that, I haven't had any issues with jars exploding.
- Thread starter
- #4
Thanks!
Freezing does not necessarily entail repeated warming and chilling. One can portion beans when freezing them. Condensation can be mitigated as well by evacuating as much air as possible and allowing the beans to warm to ambient before exposing them to air. There is definitely appreciable benefit to freezing coffee if properly done as beans are perishable and freezing can extend the lifespan of the beans.
True enough. Still, if you're going to use your coffee before it spoils, the extra time it takes to portion, pack, freeze, and thaw probably isn't going to be worth the extra hassle. If you do need to store it that long, go for it!
I bought some cans from SMs that have one-way values installed in the bottom, like a non-rebreather. Works great except those mornings when I am grinding beans in my Rocky and I sleepily put the lid to the can on top of the Rocky. The lid is perfectly sized to the inside diameter of the bean hopper on the Rocky. I have to use a suction cup to get it back out. That's the only drawback to the cans I bought from SMs.
-jim
-jim
I have been roasting coffee for years. Freezing works extremely well. If a bag or container of coffee is removed from a freezer and opened briefly, no appreciable condensation occurs (certainly, no condensation is visible). Even if it did, it would be on the surface of the beans and would sublimate rapidly in the freezer, just as ice cubes sublimate and get smaller if not used. Also, there is no reason why a trace amount of surface frozen water would affect flavor. I don't believe there is any actual evidence to support the theory that flavor in whole roasted beans is affected by condensation from opening a frozen container.
My local roaster warned me that freezing beans would potentially allow them to absorb other food odors. Haven't tried it. I ziplock it and keep it in the cupboard. I don't get more than I can go through in 2 weeks. There is a neat looking can on amazon, however it is $30ish.
I do notice that a lot of food doesn't look so great after spending a few months (or more) in the freezer. There must be freezing best practices?
-jim
-jim
Large mason jar. Large mason jar with a tiny nail hole in the lid for ~24 hours after roasting.
Ben
Ben
I also use one of the vacuum canisters. You have to press a button to open and close them. You can't actually remove the lid without pressing the button because of the vacuum (well, you can, but it takes a lot of effort). I got mine at the roastery that I buy my coffee from.
Atlas mason jars that started life holding spaghetti sauce. After a good wash that included a mild vinegar solution. These can hold roughly 13 oz of green beans after roasting.
I use the coffee bean vac. One for regular, one for my decaf. http://www.amazon.com/Bean-Vac-Batt...TF8&qid=1354887855&sr=8-2&keywords=coffee+vac
shammer
shammer
When I glanced at the topic, I thought it was beans. As in legumes. Not coffee beans. +1 on the Ikea Slom jars. I don't keep coffee beans in them, but they do seal quite well. Of course, I don't roast beans, so I'm probably at a loss here.
Purchasing what I can use in a week works best for me. I just make sure I tightly resealing the bag the coffee is packaged with after grinding what I need. I only grind what I need for a double shot each morning.
Having a great local roaster in town helps, and visits to the shop are part of my weekly routine. I only buy their freshest roasts, and the frequent visits allows me to try a great variety of coffee's. On occasion I've gone two weeks between visits - and very rarely see a degradation in the quality of my espresso's (less crema).
Having a great local roaster in town helps, and visits to the shop are part of my weekly routine. I only buy their freshest roasts, and the frequent visits allows me to try a great variety of coffee's. On occasion I've gone two weeks between visits - and very rarely see a degradation in the quality of my espresso's (less crema).
Atlas mason jars that started life holding spaghetti sauce. After a good wash that included a mild vinegar solution. These can hold roughly 13 oz of green beans after roasting.
I dislike jars because I can be less then focused at 5:30AM and dropping is a real concern to me. Even my method of tins only solves half the problem of dropping - there aren't any glass shards but the top will still pop off and beans will be every where.
I kind of think if you have whole beans and use them within a week, maybe any kind of storage might work?
Maybe we could all try that? next fresh bean purchase, take a cups worth and put them into an open cup and place in the cupboard and the rest of the beans as usual. After 7 days or so compare the two?
-jim
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